Mansion opens its doors

If you've got the money, Savannah now has butler-serviced rooms waiting for you.

Posted: Monday, April 11, 2005

Savannah, a modest and restrained city, doesn't normally refer to itself as "chic and luxurious."

But now it has the Mansion on Forsyth Park.

And developer Richard Kessler wasn't shy at Monday's grand opening about telling everyone exactly how "chic and luxurious" his new 126-room creation is.

Approach the front doors, and he'll point out the Lalique crystal door knobs.

Enter the lobby, and he'll tell you the story behind the rare antique Louis XV-style rock crystal chandelier that hangs to the left (this one was presumably cheaper than the identical one he nearly bought in Paris for $250,000).

Music wafts in from the lounge, home to one of the hotel's three Bsendorfer pianos - Austrian instruments that retail in the six-figure range.

Check-in is at the white onyx reception desk. And those massive twisting columns are 200 years old and made of pink Verona marble.

There are 400 pieces of original artwork covering the walls here - everything from Jack Leigh black-and-white photos to abstract French oil paintings.

"If you want the best of Savannah, you want to stay at the Mansion on Forsyth Park," Kessler said. "It's a chic, luxurious and inspiring hotel."

But will Savannah's visitors be willing to pay between $289 (standard) and $1,500 (three-bedroom Kessler Suite) for a night in such opulence?

"I'm $40 million confident they will," Kessler said.

That's how much this Savannah-born businessman has pumped into this project.

It's a project that began almost seven years ago when a Realtor first showed him the 18,000-square-foot red-brick mansion built for Lewis Kayton in 1888 for $45,000.

The building held the Fox and Weeks Funeral Home at the time.

Kessler saw an opportunity to make his mark just up the street from his Taylor Street childhood home.

"As soon as I looked at it, I knew this was the place to do something special in the city," he said.

It took years to work through complicated rights of way issues with the city, then win design approval from the Historic Review Board for the massive addition.

Today, that original Kayton House is the center of the public portion of the hotel. It's home to the hotel's restaurant, 700 Drayton, which features eight private dining rooms. Kasmir's Lounge, complete with a balcony, occupies the second floor.

Toward the rear is a cooking school, where Chef Darin Sehnert will teach you how to properly prepare veal ossoboco and saphron-flavored risotto. Hotel sommelier Clint Kummer will take you through tastings in the Salzburg Wine Room.

The 300 guests who showed for the ceremony seemed properly impressed.

Alderwoman Edna Jackson gushed at the hotel's full-service spa. In one room, you lay down on a massage table while an eight-headed Vichy shower pulsates water across your body.

Former Mayor Floyd Adams Jr. strolled through the white-marbled courtyard to get a quick look at the pool with waterfall backdrop.

"The end result is beautiful," he said. "Savannah will attract a whole new clientele of tourists."

Mayor Otis Johnson looked out across the crowd and let out one of his crooked half-smiles.

"This goes to show that if you can conceive it and believe it you can achieve it," he said. "Especially if you've got money."